As Nelson Mandela taught us, “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” Mandela is not simply declaring the import of treating our children well. He is challenging us with a question: When we, as a society, honestly measure the well-being of children under our care, are we happy with what it says about who we are?

It is through the prism of this question that we must ask ourselves, are we comfortable that millions of children, many of Latino heritage, now live under the threat that they or their parents would be soon be deported?

This threat, which largely emerged during the presidential campaign, is causing high levels of distress and anxiety, particularly for the undocumented children who live in our community. Most of these children were brought to the U.S. when very young, attend local schools, and are fully integrated into our community. Others have fled the gang and political violence in their countries of origin and arrived in our community as unaccompanied minors. Others are American-born, but live with undocumented parents or other family members.

For 60 years, the nonprofit Child Guidance Center of Mid-Fairfield County has served as the safety net for families in our community who can’t afford mental health services for their children. Every year we help over 600 children from the greater Norwalk/Westport region who suffer from a wide spectrum of emotional and behavioral health disorders. Most of the children we help are between the ages of 8 and 13. Due to the highly diverse demographics of our region, some of these children are undocumented or have undocumented family members.

Recently, we have observed that many of these children have experienced a significant amplification of their existing symptoms or the development of new symptoms in response to the threat of deportation. They are terrified of being forced out of the country they consider home, of having their parents or loved ones torn away from them, of being sent back to the violence from which they escaped. What we are observing at the center is happening to children throughout our country.

These are not irrational childhood fears, like monsters under the bed, which fade with time. Their fears are completely rational, reinforced daily in the news. In addition, their fears are often intensified by an increased level of bullying due to their heritage and presumed immigration status. Helping these children cope with such anxieties is a major challenge.

The leadership and associates at the Child Guidance Center are politically and ideologically diverse. Yet we are unified in the belief that the well-being of children should always transcend politics and ideology. We hope any government policy, regardless of its ideological origin, will explicitly take into account the welfare of children, with a deliberate emphasis on ensuring they are not separated from their families or forcibly removed from an environment they consider safe. A swift public declaration to this effect would significantly mitigate the emotional trauma that recent immigration policy statements have already inflicted on millions of children and families.

For over half a century, the mission of the center has been to help all children with mental and behavioral health needs achieve emotional stability, academic success, and happy and productive lives. We stand by this mission and its theme of complete inclusivity.

Whatever the prevailing political winds may be, the center will always be an unrelenting advocate for every child in mental distress, regardless of gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual identity, or citizenship status.

Roy Berger is the Chief Executive Officer of the Child Guidance Center of Mid-Fairfield County, serving the towns of Norwalk, Westport, Weston, Wilton, New Canaan, Darien, and Stamford. Dr. David Sasso is the center’s medical director. The center’s Board of Trustees also signed this op-ed.